Obama Campaign Hitting Swing States Hard

11/2/2012 12:50PM

In a one-on-one interview with WSJ's Jerry Seib, Obama Campaign strategist David Axelrod says strong favorability ratings portend a strong showing for the President in several key swing states. Photo: Getty.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... David Axelrod senior advisor ... to the Obama campaign ... slogan our inaugural guest on the show months ago David thanks for joining us ... great to be back to ... banks preceded so let's look at that that final week and then and in the ... final days before the voting actually begins when you be looking for what should we be watching is reach that stretch run ... well I think measures can see lot of activity particular images of battleground states ethical we've seen in the last of forty eight hours is a kind of break glass ... of moment in Boston where a ... there's a recognition that ... um ... you know where he would even or ahead and up ... for to everyone of these battleground states ... and so you see them investing heavily ... on fliers in in in states like Michigan and Minnesota Pennsylvania ... and also running these very very a controversial ads in ... Ohio on cars ... of which have been roundly ... denounced as untrue ... and Manda ads in Pennsylvania that go back to the discredited welfare ... of arguments of the summer ... so I you know I I would watch for these kinds of ... attention and the ... desperation on the other side I think they recognize where they are ... and they know it's not good enough ... it's you know the October surprise I guess it was that this year was a super storm Sandy ... what you think its impact is going to be ultimately ... it's hard to measure Jerry enacted before I answer that I should note that there are bigger things ... of unstinting growth into that storm fifty people was the lives ... of fifty billion dollars and a ... loss of property ... it's a terrible it's a terrible disaster ... and so you know it's it's it's a low crested engage in that ... kind of political calculation and I really don't know ... of ... of ... how that all men so what I do know is that it probably ... of push politics aside ... for many voters in this country who were ... focused on the ... up on the of the storm and its impacts and so ... in a sense it took three days ... off the board in the final week of the campaign ... as it had an impact on early voting in any states that are really important to you guys ... no I mean the mode of the state's there were in the path of the storm ... are not big early voting states that touched on the eastern Ohio ... of but the impacts don't seem to be ... of great there and we continue to be ... of very very ... excited about what we see in early voting ... in states where there is ... heavy early voting in Florida and Ohio ... and certainly in Nevada Iowa ... and Colorado ... you know the early returns are ... are very very encouraging for us with ... hitting and exceeding our targets ... and we believe we're going to Election Day and many of those states ... with a very very strongly ... Nevada for example ... you know seventy percent will voted by election day ... cricket when you go in there with a big lead in Iowa fifty percent ... forty five to fifty will of the vote a by election day ... we think we're going to go in ... with a big lead we we believe we getting about sixty percent of them really bold as to where the ballots are ... coming from so of the storm itself ... it didn't disrupt ... of early voting to any great degree ... to Steve ... you know and it is you know of the better than I the Romney people think they got some momentum ... about a month ago Jake Lee after the first debate ... they say he continues ... is it your view that remember Romney momentum has stopped at this point ... this I would call it Fomento Jerry I don't think they have momentum now I don't think they've had for awhile that ... they've they've picked up some ... support after the first debate ... they largely pick up those Republican leaning independents who would ... of were very ... doubtful about Governor Romney they got back those voters we Liz's ... assume that they would this race is exactly the race ... that we prepare for we've United had many discussions ... about the nature of this race and um and that it was going to be close ... of but ... as I said the fundamentals are very good for us ... given up in these very close to its you look at these undecided voters ... and that they have a more favorable ... opinion of the present them into on of Governor Romney ... so this notion that there's can be some big wave it in for Governor Romney ... isn't supported by the data ... are ... assumptions are very much focused ... up ... or drawn from the data that we see ... there seems to be in this ... kind of of ... mystical faith that to ... it's all going to come together in the end ... and I think they're going to be ... disappointed that ... who I feel we are the ones who are in a strong position ... going into this final week ... Steve Noble in that Daddy you talk to that day or the things that trouble some Democrats is the president doesn't seem to be able to get C or above that magic fifty percent mark either nationally or in most of the ... battleground states is that something you need to worry about at this stage ... well first mom not sure that that's true use of a bunch of polls come out this morning in a ... Quinnipiac ... in Ohio had him at the ... fifty I believe we were to be up ... in Florida and then pulled ... up and done ... you know I think that to ... I think that would hit in the March we need to hear ... and again ... of you in almost all these posts were were in the you know forty nine to fifty one ... range in these ... and many of these battleground states ... and ... there's nothing that would suggest that ... all the rest of the remaining boat and there's not that much of it ... will adore the Governor Romney I don't believe that's can happen so ... I'm not so overly concerned about that at all ... to ... get in a bit less than that for just a second you know you've been around these campaigns a long time I have also ... um ... it's a surprising about this year and this campaign is he didn't ... anticipate ... will there always a new one thing that you learn when you ... have been around camping for a long time is to ... anticipate the unanticipated ... a new we've seen developments in this campaign and certainly the storm ... Twitter account is one of those that you just couldn't ... of ... you couldn't predict ... and so you know what you do is a campaign is ... up you try and prepare for those things you can prepare for ... and while those out ... and then of ... you know and then you have to be agile and dealing with the things that come up ... that the that you don't ... economy I can say ... of ... there are some surprising elements to other strategy that they've employed ... of ... that I found surprising this week ... um you know I thought it was surprising that they would go back to the auto issue ... in Ohio in trying to rewrite history The slave again ... and ... re invigorate that whole debate ... about how Romney ... said let Detroit go bankrupt and what his position was on the bailout ... and then ... to you know kind of construct this apocryphal notion that ... of jobs would be shipped from Ohio to China ... which the ... car companies ... you know hit very very hard ... that was surprising to me but it does suggest ... that said there is a sense of desperation there they know where they are in Ohio ... and they felt that they have to try and diffuse what is a very strong argument for the present one in eight ... auto jobs ... in ... one of many jobs in Ohio ... a flow from the auto industry ... so the president's actions there are very well regarded ... and so they obviously felt they had to act but that was one that I would have predicted ... yes you know what are the other critiques of of of of you were approached and then you get into lakes the table with an agenda for a second term agenda ... did you ... did you adjust the piano was that that that that play out the way you know it's just that ... the the agenda that ... we ... center in printed form two ... four five million voters was on our website for ... some time and that the agenda the president's been talking about ... throughout this campaign it has to do with how we ... build the best education system in the world how we ... build up an energy ... mix for the future that allows us to control our own energy and dominate the ... energy sources of the future goes to how we deal with the deficit ... you know in a balanced way of you know these are things that we've been talking about ... throughout the campaign but we thought at the end ... when there were this the small group of ... undecided voters they would be ... a good thing to put in their hands ... of a printed ... version of this ... of this plan so they can see and compare ... that to Governor Romney's and Governor Romney says ... don't just to extend the car ... analogy when you with top of that there's nothing there but a tax cut for the wealthy ... and ... anti regulation of Wall Street neither of which ... is a prescription for the kind of economy we need ... oh we saw that in the last decade ... there's finally a and obviously most importantly where Stanek prickly UN on TV this weekend said that it had met Romney wins Pennsylvania Minnesota where Michigan you will go on TV in shape your moustache the correct ... that is absolutely correct and I know as someone who has the facial hair yourself ... you can appreciate what a ... major wager that was ... I've had this process for forty years so it is you can take as an absolute sign of confidence ... that we're going to carry those states ... I and I will place your that I will not shave my facial hair no matter what happens to the senators that could free of the boys ... I was I should say sometime in in in a very busy stretch run that David ... Starkey on the other side ... with four to two thinking ...